


a pattern of prolonging the inevitable

by mysilenceknot



Series: 'cause I swore you had your hand in this too [3]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fights, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:47:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27767761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysilenceknot/pseuds/mysilenceknot
Summary: "So tell me, Allen,” and oh, she must be pissed as hell if she was bringing his last name out, “tell me why it’s okay for you to jump onto a mission that is four months in the works.”Barry turns away from her piercing lime eyes.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Iris West
Series: 'cause I swore you had your hand in this too [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1088799
Kudos: 8





	a pattern of prolonging the inevitable

**Author's Note:**

> yet another fight between Iris and Barry, but personally I think Iris is right + I had to struggle to write Barry's side of this without turning him into a complete ass. ah, well.  
> trigger warning for references to kidnapping and child sexual abuse.  
> title comes from [Come Right Out and Say It](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCE3aJUxVjQ) by Relient K.

Temptation gets the best of Barry eight days after he first sees Wither in a house in the sector he was patrolling at night. No crime had happened that seemed connected to her, but he knew that she didn’t live in that house and he knew that she was dressed in her variety of green and black outfits which made him wary of her entire deal in that house. He runs into the three story house, being careful not to disturb the neatly organized garden and the knickknacks on a shelf next to the door.

“Took you long enough,” Wither comments without glancing up from her laptop. “I really thought you would have checked in last week. Just my luck.”

“Who’s house is this?” he asks.

“‘Sorry for bursting in on you like this, Wither.’ ‘No problem, Streak, I’m sure you just wanted to make sure I wasn’t doing anything illegal in this empty home with the owners gone for another week.’” Barry crosses his arms. “Fine, fine. They’re community friends and were very happy to help us out on this mission.”

“Wait, hold up.”

Iris spins in her chair to face him. She scowls. “Normally I’d have fun jerking you around about this, but I’m busy. You work for the police, put those detective skills into action instead of making me hold your hand through this.”

Slightly insulted, Barry leaves the attic to canvass the rest of the house. Wither seemed to have been telling the truth. Photos indicated the owners had adult children and multiple grandkids. A side room has a large assortment of plants, all freshly watered. It’s as if Barry stumbled upon a different side of the villain, the nicer side that he’d seen glimpses of in the past but had broken forth for this elderly couple. Barry wonders what community Wither had referred to, but that felt like a conversation for another time.

Heading back upstairs, Barry looks around the attic. It’s full of boxes, all carefully labeled for storage. Wither sat on an office chair in front of a large desk. A whiteboard containing notes in multiple colors and magnets holding up newspaper clippings is hung to the right of the desk; a decently large window is to the left.

The newspapers date back three years, most focused on two contrasting things.

“Dennis Walters?” Barry murmurs. He keeps reading. Articles that weren’t about the lawyer were about young girls disappearing, almost all of them houseless. The notes on the whiteboard were in more than one person’s handwriting. The ‘us’, Barry assumes. “I have two questions.”

“Shoot.”

“Who’s your partner?”

Wither stops typing. “If you’d asked any night other than tonight, I’d have to keep it a secret. But depending on how much longer you insist on bothering me,” she turns the chair so it’s easier to see him,” it’s the Black Canary.”

"The Black Canary?"

"Yup. We met years before she formed the Justice League. Our methods might be different, but we understand each other and that's all that matters."

Barry tilts his head and thinks about his fellow JL member. He knows a little bit about Black Canary pre-League but he'd never imagined that she'd be connected to someone like Wither -- and work with her. Then again, everything he knows about Wither has been connected to her sudden appearance in Central City five years prior.

“So, your target is Dennis Walter. Does he live in that house you’ve been watching?”

“Give the boy a prize!” she says as she nods in affirmation. “My source was positive that there was a connection between this house and the missing girls but couldn’t prove it. It turns out that this is one of three properties that Dennis owns, not counting his home and his business.”

“And I take it your source is the journalist behind these pieces.”

Wither opens a desk drawer and pulls out a binder overfilled with newspaper clippings and typed up notes. “Iris West,” she says. “She’s been with CCN for over a decade but wasn’t connected to the metahuman sympathizer movement until a little over a year ago.” Wither flips through her files. “She’s been a huge help with some tricky cases.”

This is the first time Barry has heard Iris speak of anyone in her life outside of Reverb. He wonders what type of person Iris West is as a frequent source for Wither.

“Her data fully checks out. He visits each house in rotation. When he brings new girls in, he does so early in the morning. According to the schedule, one should come today. That’s when we strike.”

Barry feels sick. There was a heavy implication behind what Wither is saying and it’s nauseating. He can only imagine what she’d felt each night during her watch, what she felt when her source brought this case to her attention. His heart aches.

“So, what’s your plan?”

“A decoy. There’s a girl that Canary has been mentoring and she’s in the age range of his victims. When she gives the signal, we make our way in.”

A solid plan, and without thinking he says “I’ll stay here as backup.”

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Wither --” Barry begins.

“If I caught the JL setting up a sting and demanded to join in, you’d be pissed.”

“That’s different,” he weakly protests, knowing that it was the exact same thing.

“So tell me, Allen,” and oh, she must be pissed as hell if she was bringing his last name out, “tell me why it’s okay for you to jump onto a mission that is four months in the works.”

Barry turns away from her piercing lime eyes.

If it had just been the Black Canary, he wouldn’t have hesitated to let her handle things in her own way. Instead, he would have reminded her that he was around for backup if things went south. The Black Canary was a rather secretive hero and even though they’d been working together for almost a decade, he still didn’t know her identity. 

“It’s because you don’t trust me,” Wither concludes. Barry shuts his eyes. He wants to reassure her that he did, but that seems like a scarier move than claiming that he didn’t. If she was Hal he would have made the same demand. That knowledge frightens him.

“No, I don’t trust you,” Barry lies. He keeps his face away. “I don’t trust that you won’t kill this dude and cause more problems.”

Wither scoffs. “More problems. Killing a pedophile kidnapper would cause more problems.”

“For you they would.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“You’re  _ wanted _ , Wither,” he says loudly. Barry turns to finally meet Wither’s stony stare. “You’re wanted and the smart thing for me would be to turn you in because no matter how much good you’ve done, you’re wanted for murder.”

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Wither hisses. “And if you’re still hung up on that, why bother keeping me around?” She pulls her wrists forward as if she’s waiting for Barry to slap a pair of handcuffs over them. He doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry or scream at this infuriating woman. 

“I don’t know. I don’t _ know _ . We keep sleeping together and I’m letting that get in the way of my work because I--”. Barry’s voice falters. He takes a deep breath. “Look. I’m sorry I offered. I just think that even though this man should die, you should not be his executioner.”

Wither sighs, the fight leaving her body as she lowers her arms.

“I can’t promise you that, Streak. It’s not up to me.”

Of all of the excuses in the world, this was the most out of left field that he could have imagined. He is speechless. She continues. “There are at least seven traumatized girls in that house. Girls who have experienced horrors beyond our imagination. You said you don’t want more trouble for me and I… appreciate that. But it’s not about what we want. It’s about what the girls want and I absolutely will not hesitate to follow their lead.”

“Okay,” Barry said after a moment. “Okay.”

They stood in awkward silence for a few more seconds before Barry ran out of the house without another word.

* * *

“You’re late,” Singh greets Barry when he makes it to the crime scene. Barry’s heart had been in his throat since he received the address in a text message. He had barely slept last night, wondering if the sting had gone well, and now he stands in front of the house Wither had kept watch over for months. He didn’t know what to expect.

“What have we got here? Any bodies?”

Singh gives him an odd look. “That’s a rather specific opening question.”

Barry bites his tongue -- it had slipped out before he could stop himself. Singh’s answer helps calm the bile threatening to come up out of his empty stomach. “No, no bodies. A lot of other awful physical evidence, but no bodies. The house owner wasn’t in the best of shape when he was picked up for child kidnapping and between the two of us, I can’t blame whoever discovered what was going on for reacting in that way.”

Singh gives him a few more instructions before Barry is left to work. He closes his eyes and shoots a silent thanks to the sky. To Black Canary, for getting the operation together. 

And to Wither, for making the bastard suffer yet live to pay for his crimes.


End file.
